PROM NIGHT - DON'T SEE THIS MOVIE!!!!!

As my family and friends will tell you, I LOVE horror movies. I am always looking for something new to scare me, so last night I went and saw the movie "Prom Night" with some of my friends.

I would never, EVER suggest this movie to anybody. It is rated "PG-13," but I definitely feel like it should have been rated "R" because of violence.

Every other character in this movie gets brutally stabbed several times, and it is absolutely sickening to watch. I wasn't scared so much as I was shocked and disgusted.

The scariest thing about this movie is that the people in the theater that were laughing at the stabbings! That is totally sick, twisted, and completely inappropriate, even if it is "just a movie." I almost threw up after the first 10 minutes.

So, I guess I just wanted to tell all of my friends and family that they should NOT go see this movie. It is disgusting and disturbing. I think I will just stick to the psychological thrillers from now on.

I Have a A New Bike!

So I have been doing a lot, Lot, LOT of research lately about bikes. I miss my Raleigh every day, and I decided it is time to admit that it is gone for good. I have been debating with myself for weeks whether getting a new bike is a good idea, and I finally decided it is! This is the bike I have chosen! It is the 2008 Myka Sport by Specialized.

Just a little after thought, the great bike debate has been weighing so much on my mind lately that I had a dream about it the other day. I dreamed that I before I bought it went back to the bike shop and that they had already sold every single bike that I was interested in. It was devastating. Good thing it was just a dream...

Intramural Champion!

Hey everyone! I just won the Racquetball singles tournament! Thought you should all know that you are friends/relatives of a CHAMPION!

The Best Dad in the World

This is a shout out to the WHOLE WORLD! I just wanted you to know that I have the Best Dad Ever!

My dad is the buisest man in the world, but he always has time for me. I love him more than I can say, and I thank God to have a great man like him in my life. He is a great example, and I couldn't ask for a better father.

The top 20 things I learned in my first 20 years of earthly existance

For the big 2-0 I thought I would brag about how much I have learned while living through two decades (Wow! That is a long time!) Here it goes:

1. Blonds really do have more fun!
And brunettes really are jealous.




2. Laughter - it's the Best Medicine.
or so Reader's Digest tells me.

So here is a good one for you:
Why do witches ride on brooms?



Because Vacuum cleaners are too heavy!
(this one gets me every time! one of those original Popsicle-stick jokes)

3. In-n-Out Burger has the best burgers in the world - hands down.
But only Californians understand



4. You get what you pay for.
So if you care about it, spend money on it!
Especially when it comes to bike locks. >:(

5. Fruit is an irreplaceable daily necessity.




6. Responsibility, what's that?
Super important, that's what! Being reliable is a "grown-up" thing, but I guess I am a grown-up now, so lets shun MxPx and get to work!

7. The Bee's are the BEST advice!
With the passing of President Gordon B. Hinckley, I have realized how valuable his life and lessons truly are. I am re-committing to take good advice to heart, especially the "Bees!"



8. Is it in you?
Yes! It is in me! In fact, it's in everyone!

Find a sport you are passionate for. It makes staying fit easier, and life more enjoyable!
Me? I love mountain biking!



9. Believe in yourself!
You can do so much if you just believe!

10. Don't Believe in yourself too much...
You are not invincible, so don't do dumb things.


(Alright, I stole those last two from a book, but both really are important life lessons, and I did learn them!)

11. Some knots are impossible to untie.



It is easier to avoid tangling your life altogether than to try and get yourself out of an unnecessary mess!
Make the right decision in the first place - CTR!

12. You can direct your own life, so don't leave it up to chance!



Anyone can get behind a wheel and hit the gas, but only those with a plan get where they want to go. Don't let life run you into a ditch! Set goals and be an active navigator!

13. There is always someone better than you.
But who cares?

14. True friends never go out of style.



I thank God every day for my friends. They have blessed my life in more ways than I can possibly describe.

15. Quality time is worth more than money
The more I live life, the more I realize that money doesn't buy you friends or happiness. Time buys you friends, love buys you happiness. Spend time with those around you. As you come to know and love them, your life will be blessed. Money may be able to buy you a new Audi, but the Audi will never love you like a real person can!

16. Anything you do with sisters is cool.



and matching pink Pj's are the ULTIMATE COOL!

17. Two is better than one
especially when you are a twin.



This year has been very, very hard because Eric is on his mission. I am so proud to have him as a brother, but dang I miss that boy!



18. Parents in general are DA BOMB!
but mine are #1



I can honestly say that I could not have picked better parents. You know how people talk about the day they learned their parents were "just human, like the rest of us?" That day hasn't come for me, and I doubt it ever will.

19. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is Restored!



The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has the true and restored gospel of Christ. Joseph Smith saw God the Father and Jesus Christ, and they directed him to build this church. The book of Mormon contains the fullness of the gospel, and the Bible is the word of God. President Monson is God's prophet on the earth today. Christ died for me, and he is waiting to hold me in his arms again. Most of all, I know that God loves me.

20. Trust in the Lord
with all thine heart
and lean not unto thine own understanding
In all thy ways, acknowledge Him
and he shall direct thy paths.
(Proverbs 3:5-6)

Mountain Biking, Rock Climbing, and Everything Nice!

As promised, here are some more pictures from Moab!

Group Picture on the Gemini Bridges

Me on the Gemini Bridges

This first one is up at Gemini Bridges. We mountain biked there, which was awesome. When we got there, I discovered my extreme fear of heights. I sat right down in the middle of the bridge, just to make sure I would not tumble over the edge. ;)

Tommy and Bruce on The Rock

This is Tommy rock climbing, with a little help from Bruce. If you ask me, it might be a little too much help...

Kami, Me, Lisa, Tommy, and Jeremiah

For a service project, we painted this barn. I like to think we are ready to become pro painters.

The Mountain Bike Rack

I just think that this is the coolest picture of the Mountain Bikes!

So these next two pictures are not in Moab, they are in Alpine. I went mountian biking with my friend Ivan Ho. He is also an awesome photographer, so we got some amazing shots up in the mountains! I love mountian biking!

Ivan Ho Popping a Wheelie

Me on an Uphill Climb

Moab!

Last week I went on a camping trip with my RMYL class down to Moab! More pictures will come, but for now, the above is me by the delicate arch, and below is the Boy Scout camp we stayed at. It was a total blast!

5 Simple Pleasures

I got tagged! Here are my simple pleasures:

1. Taking my helmet off and shaking my hair out after a long bike ride.

2. Getting letters in the mail.

3. Fresh fruit, especially watermelon.

4. Talking to my mom about everything (and nothing) every single day.

5. The sound of laughter.

6. The view from the top of a mountain.

I tag Lisa, Ruth, and Brianon. What are 5 of your simple pleasures.

STOLEN!

Monday night my bike was stolen. Someone came into my apartment complex and cut my lock and rode away. I use my bike for all my daily activities and errands, so this loss is kind of a big deal to me.

Lessons learned:

1. Buy the most expensive bike lock you can
2. Keep your bike indoors at night
3. Pray like your life depends on it that your bike is always right where you left it

Unfortunately, I had to learn these lessons from experience instead of from other's mistakes.

Morning rides to work are over.
Day rides to class are over.
Evening rides with friends are over.
Weekend rides with Rebecca are over.
Saturday morning mountain biking is over.

On a proactive note, if you see anyone riding around Provo on an orange Raleigh, I will pay your medical bills if you get hurt tackling them.

closet treasures

During this month's wardrobe purging I discovered some real gems . . .
We decided to keep them. Figured that we could feature them in the next music video . . . maybe we will do a rap video this time? ;)

Also, our trip to LA was awesome! Mom and Dad, thank you so much for everything! You really are amazing, and I love you so much!

Six Flags was awesome because none of us were sunburned...yet...

LET LEVI RIDE!

Team Astana is not riding in le Tour de France this year! Because of the drug scandals of some of the team members last year, the ASO disqualified all of Team Astana from riding! This is completely unjust! The guilty members have already been removed from the team, and team Astana has spent more on anti-doping than any other cycling team this year! Contador and Leipheimer (first and second place in the 2007 tour) are among those disqualified! A Tour without them is no tour at all! PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION at www.letleviride.com.

Some Old Favorites, and Some New Favorites

I just love all these pictures! The top one - I got a bike! I absolutely love my bike! I like to ride it everywhere! I love running errands on it and towing rollerbladers behind it...basically, I love everything about it! The second picture is from the festival of colors at the Hare Krishna temple is Spanish Fork, which was amazing! I am a little sad that my hair did not change colors like many other peoples, but It was still worth it! I had pink buggers for days! Next is Addison...reading on her toilet! She is so silly! It is funny because Brianon does the same thing every day! Maybe Addison will grow up to be just like Brianon! I think that would be a good thing. :) Last, I found this picture of Ruth and I in front of the temple this week, and I absolutely love it! It is kind of significant right now because Ruth is getting married in Salt Lake in just a few months. Soon, she will be able to take pictures in front of this temple with her best friend for eternity! I am just grateful that I got to fill that roll temporarily. :) Ruth, I hope your pictures with Jordan are just as fun and exciting as us in our Utah dresses, though I can't fathom how you will convince Jordan to attempt such a fashion statement.

Easter Sunday/Roommates

Last Sunday was Easter Sunday, and it was fabulous! This is a picture of most of my roommates (I miss you, Krystin Bateman! but you were in Boise!) on Easter Sunday looking our Easter best! I love every one of you girls! Plus, who can deny how good we look out there in the Easter Sun?
I also went to Rebecca's house for Easter dinner, which was delicious Ham and funeral potatoes and green bean casserole and fresh made bread. It was great. I am still living off of the leftovers, and in fact I am starting to worry about rotting food. I eat leftovers every meal, but I am just a girl - how much do you think I eat?!
Anyways, life is going pretty great right now. Brianon is as cute as ever, and we went to Indian food for lunch today in anticipation of the festival of colors tomorrow. I just love spending time with Brianon! She is so funny and always smiling...especially lately...she knows why... ;o). She is also a great friend who is always conscious of ways she can make others have a better day. I love that about her.
Krystin is great fun. I somehow always manage to catch her when I have something on my mind, and she is such a great listener! Also, she throws in a few laughs among the serious conversations, which I love. We went to dinner today at Mimi's Cafe with Stephanie Young. I think we all ate ourselves to death, but it was definitely worth it! Not only was the food great, but the company was fabulous!
Ruth and I went on an adventure to the Urgent care center last night. She has strep throat! I am super sad about that because I miss hearing her sing and being able to talk to her without the fear that I could be the next white boily throat victim! (but I bet Jordan is in the most danger of that!) Hehehe. Seriously though, I love Ruth! She is everything you would ever want in a friend, and more! I am so blessed to have her around. She is a super dedicated student, and even more dedicated to people. I love that about her!
Becca is up to her usual shenanigans - the library, dating, and whatnot. I love that Becca is always up in the mornings about the same time as I am. It is so nice to be able to start the day off with pleasant human interaction rather than the grunts and groans of all those "non-morning" people. Plus, her cynical sarcasm is just what I need sometimes.
Kristina is dating a boy, and yes, K*, I think he is cute. She is even happier now than she normally is, which I didn't even think was possible! It is really fun to have someone so energetic and lively around the apartment.
Well, I think I pretty much covered all the roommates. I hope you all read this and know how much I love you! Good luck with finals and projects and everything! I am going to miss you all this spring!

Purim Party!

Thursday we celebrated Purim with some of my old Hebrew classmates. It was a blast! On Purim you reenact the story of Esther. Whenever you see or hear someone say Mordecai you cheer as loud as you can, and for Hamen you boo and hiss as loud as you can. The goal of the holiday is to get so drunk that you can't tell the difference between Mordecai and Hamen. So I guess we don't celebrate Purim to it's entirety in that respect, but we did have a lot of sparkling apple cider and we were so riled up and excited that at least I couldn't tell the difference. I even had a part in the play this year! I was "Plotter #2." I plotted to kill the king by putting dynamite in his guitar. Pretty much stole the show, but I don't want to brag. ;o) Well, if anyone wants to put on a killer showing of Esther, I have the perfect script!

I am Elizabeth Bennet!

Take the Quiz here!

Check out my Slide Show!

The Long-awaited Update!

Okay, I just realized that I have not written in FOREVER, so I think I will change that right now. A little update. Not much is new at all actually, just living life as a college student should...playing until I have procrastinated to the max, then working until I can play again! It has been a pretty rough couple of weeks with midterms and projects due, but all is well, and I am surviving! That is pretty much it!

Kenya Elections

So my brother Eric is serving a mission in Kenya right now. It is all very exciting, but the recent elections have turned out to be more violent than expected. If you are interested in reading a little more about what is going on over there, here is a link to an article describing the situation:

http://www.nationalpost.com/story.html?id=211741

My brother is just outside of Eldoret, which is the place that the article is mainly about. I know that God will keep his missionaries safe, but a few prayers wouldn't hurt! If you could pray that the violence will end and that all the missionaries will be safe, I would appreciate it.

The week after Thanksgiving

Well, it was only a couple days ago that I realized that I have absolutely no food (except for Ramen, of course) and even worse, no wheat flour! I went to the store top get some so I am baking wheat bread today and I am so excited! Now that I will have bread, life is pretty sweet. I have an amazing sister that lives only ten minutes away that I absolutely LOVE visiting! We watch Chuck and eat and laugh and play with Addison. Really, what more could I want out of life? Rebecca, I love you! (and I love Bart and Addison too, but neither of them are likely to read this). I will admit I frequently stress out over school and money, but when that happens I just step back and look at what I have, and that is a lot! I really miss Eric right now, which is another reason having Rebecca and Bart so close is such a blessing. I mean, no one can possibly replace him. He is my twin brother and I have never felt close to anybody in my life, but it is nice to have people around who really understand where you are coming from and where you are trying to go. Life gets hard sometimes, but family makes it a little easier!

Morning

So it is Sunday Morning and I am trying to figure out what to do with myself. Usually we have church at 9:00, but today we have stake conference at 2 instead. I went to Borders books last night and picked up "100 Simple Secrets of Happy People." I got it because it is dad's favorite book and I really missed him yesterday. I know that I will be home for thanksgiving soon, but I just want to hear all of Dad's cheesey jokes again! Luckily I do have one friend up here that makes similar jokes to Dad, so he is keeping me sane.
Anyways, my roommate told me nt to eat breakfast because we were going to have pancakes and bacon. While this is a true statement, I already ate because there is no doubt in my mind that I still have two or three hours before anyone even gets up, and I have already been up for over an hour. I guess that is part of college life, right? Sleeping in till the afternoon. I like going to bed and getting up early. It gives me time and energy to write on my blog or watch Chuck. Oh yeah! That is what I wanted to do! Got to go!